A Herb Garden and Liquid Sandstone

My husband and I both enjoy good food and decided it was time that we plant a herb garden.  We have a nice sunny spot out the back that was perfect, and a pile of old terracotta pots we could use.

I liked the terracotta pots but they were too orange for the sandstone coloured columns and pavers we have out the back. 

To buy new sandstone pots would cost a small fortune, so I decided to makeover the existing pots with a product called Liquid Sandstone (available from Bunnings/hardware store).

Web Link

The first step is to clean the pots ready for painting.  I used a high pressure water cleaner (gernie) to remove the dirt and moss.

Then I applied 2-3 coats of liquid sandstone with an old brush.  It is very much like painting with with wet sand from the beach.  Once the paint dried I gave the pots a coat of sealer to protect them.  My husband got to work and filled all the pots with drainage gravel, good soil, fertiliser and the herbs.  About a month on, this is how our herb garden looks in our 'sandstone' pots.

 We have basil, sage, thyme, mint, parsley and a bay tree in the charcoal pot. 

Meals definitely taste better with the fresh herbs.

Sharing at:  The Shabby Nest, French Country Cottage

Getting Organised for 2012 (a bit late)

You know what it's like, every year you say to yourself "This year I am going to be organised".  Hmmmmm.  Well I have tried to set myself up for success this year with a calendar and a few apps.  Of course, if I was really organised I would have done this in December last year!

Firstly I created a family calendar.  I usually use Snapfish but this year I tried a Kikki K one.  I like creating my own calendar as you can add all your favourite photos.  Once I got the calendar I recorded many things on it:

• Public holidays
• School term dates and holidays
• Birthdays and special occasions
• My son's tennis fixtures and competitions and my daughter's dancing commitments
• and social functions

I then entered all the same information on the calendar on my phone.   The advantage of the iphone calendar is that you can set up recurring events and alerts/reminders.  Although I use the calendar on my phone when I am out and about, I like having a paper calendar in the kitchen where everybody in the family can see what we have on.  It's easy to see at a glance what's coming up.

The next thing I did was to set up a "To Do" list system.  I chose a free app called Errands.

See the app here

Using this app I can create a list of things to do.  Each task is given a due date, priority, and category.  The app then sorts all the tasks in the order you specify.  Here's an example:

There are a couple of things I like about this app.

• I can set up recurring errands.  For example, I like to check what bills I have to pay every Monday, so I have set up this task.  When I tick that I have completed this, the app automatically creates this task again for next Monday.
• When tasks need to be completed in the next 24 hours, a red circle showing the number of tasks shows on the apps icon.  There is also a folder called Focus which only shows the tasks requiring your immediate attention.  I like this as I will often happily pin away on pinterest instead of doing something I really need to do.
• The other thing I like is you can create a project such as Re-decorate Bedroom, then create a list underneath that task listing each action you need to do to finish the whole project.  For example, buy paint, sand/wash walls, clean carpets... Each item on the list has it's own check box so you can tick each one off, as you work towards your final goal.

So hopefully, these couple of things will help me to stay organised.  We'll see!

DIY - How to Restore a Shower

I hate cleaning showers.  Especially as our ensuite shower is 13 years old and when you clean it, it never looks shiny and new again.  It's so frustrating - It feels like such a waste of time.  I would dearly love a new ensuite, but the reality is, it will be a number of years before we can renovate it.  So if I have to live with this shower for the next few years, it was going to need a little restoration.

Step 1 - Replace the cheap water saving fixed shower head with a massage shower head on a rail, so it is easy to clean the shower.

I chose the Methven Amio 5 function shower head.  Oh yeah!

 Step 2 - I can't look at these feature tiles any longer, so I painted over them with Zissner 123 primer and 2 coats of white gloss paint.  You can buy specialist tile paint, but it wasn't worth it for me as I only had to paint 3 tiles.

Step 3 - Rejuvenate the grout.  After 13 years the white grout was no longer white.  I didn't want to have to scrape out and re-grout the whole thing.  So firstly I cleaned the whole shower with a good mould cleaner. 

Then I wanted to freshen up the grout.  Originally I tried one of those white grout pens, but it didn't really work well.  I think they are really designed for drawing fake grout lines over painted tiles rather than making real grout lines white again  Then I discovered Selleys Grout Stain Whitener. 

This stuff is great.  It's basically pre-mixed white grout in a tube with a sponge applicator.  Squeeze it on over the grout lines, let it dry for 30-120 minutes, and when dry wipe over the tiles with a sponge to remove the excess grout.  I found a flat sponge rather than a cloth (Chux) worked best.  Here's the tiles with the grout squeezed on:

and here's how they turned out:

Honestly - They look brand new.

The final step in the restoration process was the glass shower screen.  For this I used Enduroshield.

It's a protective coating for glass.  It's a two part process.  Firstly you clean the glass with the cleaning solution and some fine steel wool.  Then you seal the glass with the sealer.  Once the sealer has cured (about 8 hours) like the box says - It's like water off a duck's back.  The water just beads on the glass.  A quick wipe over with a micro fibre cloth and the shower screen sparkles like new again.  Oh why didn't I do this earlier?

So here's my finished shower

I was so happy with the way it turned out that I also used the grout whitener and Enduroshield sealer on the downstairs shower.  The shower has been done for a few weeks now, and it is so much easier to clean.  Well worth the effort.

This is not a sponsored post.  These are just the products I used and I thought they were great.

Sharing at - The Shabby Creek Cottage

Grocery Shopping Chinese Style

It was Chinese New Year on Monday 23rd January.  We cook a lot of Chinese and Asian style food, so I often head to Chinatown to buy groceries.  The official Chinatown is in Fortitude Valley in the city, but I go to Sunnybank on Brisbane's southside where there is a large Chinese shopping centre.

Sunnybank is great.  You will find Chinese butchers, a large Chinese supermarket and seafood.  It's so interesting and diferrent.  The kids love it.

This is the sign in the butcher.  I ordered half a peeking duck which was $14, so maybe it was the fourth item on the list?

Did you know there was more than one type of dried shrimp?

 and how's this for a selction of mushrooms?

It's always fun to go out to Sunnybank and try new things.

Rust proof your Outdoor Lights

When we built our outdoor entertaining area, I was trying to save money (as always) and bought an IKEA light fitting to hang above the table.  Unfortunately it was made of wrought iron and over the years it has rusted and is basically ... well it's stuffed! 

I was worried the chain was so rusted that the light would come crashing down.

I have been looking for another light to replace it for quite some time and have seen a few I like but $1,000 for a light fitting .... really?  The IKEA one was only $79.  I have finally found a new light fitting.  Unfortunately it is also made of some type of iron so to prevent the same thing happening again, I had to give it a spray of Rust-Guard metal paint before the electrician installed it.

Here's the light hanging in my garage so I could paint it. 

It's a six pendant lantern light - $179 on special from Recollections.

It's an antique bronze colour, so I chose black rust-guard paint.

and here it is...

I think the black works better with the dining chairs than the antique bronze.

and at night...

So here's a lesson learnt.  If you have metal objects outside, it may well be worthwhile to rust-proof them in the beginning.

Happy back to school in Queensland today.

Some Garden Lanterns

I have always wanted garden lanterns hanging from shepherd's hooks in the garden.  This was my pinspiration.

I looked and looked for sherpherd's hooks everywhere and finally found some at Perfect Living in Bulimba.  Well actually I mentioned my frustration to Kylie (the owner) and she found some for me.  Shortly after I found some pretty garden lanterns on clearance at the discount shop for $14.95 each.  So now my pinned garden lanterns are a reality.

The lantern candles are actually battery operated.  At first I didn't like this idea, but after using them, they are great, and I'm not worried about kids touching them.

They look so pretty lit up at night.

Here's to alfresco dinners on balmy summer nights.

Sharing at A Beach Cottage

The Brisbane International Tennis

I'm still in holiday mode, so no decorating posts just yet.  On Monday we went to the Brisbane International Tennis.  If you haven't made the trip out to Tennyson, you really must.  The facilities are excellent and they worked hard all year to repair the damage caused by the floods in January 2011.  This is Pat Rafter Arena.  There really isn't a bad seat - you can see clearly from anywhere.

And this is who we saw play

The Brisbane International is now a premier WTA tour event and with prize money set to increase to $1 million in 2013, it's sure to attract some of the best names in women's tennis.

Ivanovic was my son's favourite - hmmmm, I wonder why?

and we saw the powerful Sarena Williams.

Talk about up close and personal

and finally Queensland's own, Bernard Tomic

Monday was also Kids Day at the tennis.  We registered our son and he was able to join in all the activities.  He played on a mini grass court.

and had his service speed measured.

It was such a great day, and we're going back tonight to do it again.


Thought I'd share this with Sarah from A Beach Cottage .